Meridians ROTM: Tacoma build!!!!!!!!!!!

[meridian]

After the upper control arms were out of the way it was easier to start getting an idea for mocking up front springs and hangers. Tacked a piece of 2 X 4 X 3/16 for the front crossmember to keep everything where tight before I lose all support.

The frame horns measure 31 1/4 and my springs will be 33 1/2 outside so they will be barely wider than the frame.

As stated before I will be using HJ60 springs with overload and one leaf removed. The are 40" center to center. This should keep me from inboarding the rear shackles. It will also move the axle ahead almost 4".

There looks like lots of room for the steering box and pitman arm.

 

[meridian]

Only two days into it and already plans have changed and stuff has gotten wrecked . Drivers side motor mount got worked over along with a pair of vacum lines. A little touch up and it was all better. The factory motor mounts sure arent very strong, looks like 1/16 maybe.

The plasma was AWESOME for removing the IFS. Sure was a lot of weight coming out of there and learned my lesson on using a plasma on a vehicle. GO SLOW and think ahead. It was much easier to remove piece by piece and taking small sections at a time. Much cleaner process. Also worked great for gouging factory welds.

 

[meridian]

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[meridian]

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[meridian]

The frame cleaned up fairly well with minimal grinding. All factory holes will get filled . Going to plate both drivers and passenger frame rails to beef up.

The steering box seems to line up nicely and had to clearance innner fender a touch. Want to try and build the mounting plate for the steering box into the frame plate.

 

[meridian]

Decided to change front crossmember to help with the relatively flat and short springs. The are only 40.5 inch center to center. Used a 2X4 on the flat then the hanger I built a while back. The center is 2.25 from the top of hanger which brings the center of the spring 4.25 down from the frame. Might be a little much, but should work out well.

 

[meridian]

Shackle hangers need to be inboard of the frame since it flares out almost three inches just ahead of the cab mount. Seen a few different ways of going about it but decided to use pipe and bushings. This will keep from having a long shackle length ang keep overall height to a minimum.

 

[meridian]

With the shackles in it was much easier to see how the pinion angle would be. After mounting the axle for a test fit, we were able to see that the shackles were going to be the right length and the springs didnt run into a negative arch until 23 degrees. This also gave the pinion angle 4 degrees without turning knuckles or perches.

The oilpan got in the way during flex tests and let us nail down where the steering box would actually mount up.

 

[meridian]

flexxxxx

 

[meridian]

moreeeeee

 

[Lost]

nice work, you have bigger tires ready?

 

[meridian]

sure do! got five 37x12.5x15 SSR that will be in end of the week. Gears are what im anxious for.

 

[meridian]

Trying to keep the rear simple we planned on using the Emu Dakar springs that are on the truck and build a drop block for the rear hanger. After installing the block used a piece of 2X2X1/4 as a stringer between frame rails. The rear frame was a little twisted and out if shape. This crossmember will eventuall be a part of rear winch mount. Either a Warn 6000 or 8000. Leaning towards a 6000 for the price.

After the block was welded in the springs still sacked out and I only gained about 1 1/2 in. When I needed 4 inches. To get the height we flipped the overloads and brought it to correct height.

At first it was way to stiff with no flex!! It has broke in well but sags huge on drivers side

 

[smkymntn]

Looks great.

 

[meridian]

picssss

 

[meridian]

The tacoma rear drive shaft didnt match the bolt pattern on the universal flange on the tcase so we changed the yoke from an older mini shaft. Didnt see this happening or I would have replaced the ujoints but instead just put it back together.

 

[meridian]

The old gear driven case that needed to be swapped in had a 21 spline input shaft and wont match up to the Tacoma chain driven 23 spline shaft. I used Trail Gears 23 spline shaft and followed Marlins tech from the site. Went really well and everything looked good. The longest part was cleaning the case before the strip. I had planned on replacing all the bearings and gaskets but upon inspection there wasnt a need for it. Gasket maker was used instead and havent any leaks. Also installed a twin stick since i didnt have a shifter. The Trail Gear shifters were too tall and interferred with the tranny so I had to cut down the Hi - Lo lever. Looks clean after I shaved her down

 

[meridian]

A new VSS replaced the factory one on the gear case and hooked up perfect and works great. A small bit of trimming was required to get full range of motion on the twin stick and ease of installation. The factory console got chopped a little bit but still looks clean

 

[meridian]

The high / low stick lost about 4 inches and got leaned back so it wont bind up.

Mounted the CB to the center console for now . Planning to leave dash space available for rocker switchers and winch control.

 

[meridian]

Back to the rear spring set up.. Here are a few better pics of the booty fab that went on getting things mounted